


Self-Praise Is For Losers

by gaialux



Category: Oz (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Domestic, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-08
Updated: 2014-01-08
Packaged: 2018-01-07 23:40:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1125753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaialux/pseuds/gaialux
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He wonders if it's love or pity that keeps her around.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Self-Praise Is For Losers

**Author's Note:**

> Canon divergent AU. Ryan's been out of prison about 6 months.

Ryan was telling the truth when he said he wanted to touch. He wanted affection, any possible type of affection. At the start, he would've been happy with affection from just about anyone in a skirt. But then he got to know Gloria and she saved his life. If there was one thing he learnt in prison, it was that you always paid what you owed (or killed off the guy, but this was Gloria). So he'd do anything to protect her, to make her happy.

To make her love him.

And if it took six years? Well, here they were. Years on, actually, but together nonetheless. In a house -- a home -- and Ryan picked up a job as a labourer and Gloria was working at the local hospital (not the prison, never the prison again). They made things work.

And the sex was fucking amazing. He had no idea that putting love into the equation made things all that much better. He'd loved Shannon, sure, but that was high-school, pre-prison shit. This...this was the real thing. The only thing. The thing he was going to make last forever and ever, no matter what. Because she kept him wanting to be good and he'd do anything to make her happy.

Everyday he came home from work stained in sweat and dirt. It was a stark contrast to Gloria who walked in the door two hours later, hair tied in a neat bun and wearing pair of jeans and a jacket. Not that he tried to care all that much; he was the asshole who stuck himself in prison, and she was the smart girl who put herself through college because she wanted to help. Always wanted to help and Ryan didn't think about that too much, either, because it kept him up at night thinking: _are you doing this 'cause you love me or 'cause you feel sorry for me?_

Most of the time, he thought it was the former. That's what made it all worth it.


End file.
